Ceramic ware, including high surface area structures, may be used in a variety of applications. Such ware may be used, for example, as supports for catalysts for carrying out chemical reactions, or as sorbents/filters for the capture of particulate, liquid, or gaseous species from fluids such as gas streams and liquid streams. As an example, certain activated-carbon-containing ceramic ware, such as honeycombs, may be used in the severe conditions of exhaust gas environments, including, for example as catalytic converters and as diesel particulate filters. Among the many pollutants in the exhaust gases filtered in these applications are, for example, hydrocarbons and oxygen-containing compounds, the latter including, for example, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon based soot and particulate matter.
Ceramic ware may be manufactured by mixing batch material and then further processing the batch material, such as forming an unprocessed or “green” body from the batch material and heat treating and/or firing the green body to make a ceramic. Providing substantially uniform ceramic ware with substantially uniform physical strength may be important to long term performance of the ware. Poor mixing of the batch material, however, may result in non-homogeneous distribution of various ingredients throughout the ceramic ware, which may cause defects in and/or varying properties throughout the ware.
The inventors have now discovered novel methods for determining mixedness of batch material for making ceramic ware, and methods for obtaining substantially consistent mixedness of batch material for making ceramic ware.